It's hard to write a cheery Christmas greeting when the whole world - as it currently seems - is in turmoil, so I turn instead to a town fairly local to me to share something that made me smile. Croydon, in recent years, has tended to hit the news for all the wrong reasons, but a story in the local press has shown that not all is lost and that if your heart's in the right place, you can help turn things around. 

  

Identical 23yr old twins John and James Makanjuola run cleaning company Makagroup Services, but rather than making the most of downtime from work by doing something different, in their spare time they clean up things and spaces they’ve not been asked to, and which they’re not being paid to clean. And what started as a way of promoting their business has ended up not only improving whatever or wherever they’ve decided to clean, but it is also encouraging others to get involved. 

  

As the pair told the South London Guardian, they have their mother to thank. When they were aged around 11 she started getting them to help out with the cleaning at home every Saturday. This meant that they were well equipped when they went to university and decided to start their own business helping clean for other students. However, realising that students didn't care enough about cleaning to make the business worthwhile, they started cleaning residential properties instead. One day they decided to clean a random front garden that looked the worse for wear and filmed the operation. This led to the ‘cleaning places nobody asked us to clean’ series of online videos, which is helping clean up local communities and raising awareness of the need for us all to play our part in looking after our local environment. You can see them in action at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084982047778

  

John Austen and I are now about to have some much-needed downtime but I reckon a good rest is on the cards as opposed to cleaning up spaces we’ve not been asked to clean! Our next broadcast will be on 9th January but we will be posting breaking news on our own Facebook page. And if you celebrate them… Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!